It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.(Romans 13:11, CSB)

​Caught Up in Clouds is a collection of acoustic-electronic hymns I'm recording right now, and plan to release in the near future. This has been a project in the making (but mostly in my head) for some time, and it began with an untimely death.

The photo of the clouds is one I took on a flight to California for the funeral of my Uncle Philip. He was one of my dearest friends and it was so hard to lose him. Since then I’ve lost others who were dear to me. Death feels like a bottomless pit, a vacuum. But according to the Bible, death — for the believer in Jesus Christ — isn’t the end.

In fact for the believer, death is gain; it is sweet. My uncle, who lived and died in Christ, is with the Lord: safe and whole, more than ever before. That’s a far cry compared with how death looks from my vantage point and yet, I believe it’s true. I believe that the perfect Son of God tasted death for every man, woman, boy, and girl, and that to believe in him alone is to never die. I believe, as the Scripture repeatedly says, that Christ is coming again for those who belong to him and are waiting for him — his bride.

I want to be a part of that resurrection, that final reunion, that catching up. I want to know what this sorrow is all about. I want to see the beauty the pain produced. I want to make it to the end, when the Son of Man makes all things new. The songs on this album found me in a time of great sorrow and discouragement. They pointed me to the skies; they reminded me of the hope — the expectancy — of the imminent return of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live."(John 11:25 CSB)